For Laron Benton there will be no senior prom, no graduation and, unless a witness comes forward, no justice in his killing.

There were only flowers that surrounded his casket at the Spriggs & Watson Funeral Home Dec. 21 and the mourning friends and family who attended his funeral the following day.

Benton, of Arlington and a student at Brashear High School, was fatally shot Dec. 16 in Mt. Oliver. It was his 16th birthday.

16TH BIRTHDAY—Friends and neighbors set up this impromptu memorial in Mt. Oliver. Laron Benton (inset) was shot and died on his 16th birthday.

Wesley McKenith, a retired Braddock policeman who lives in the 500 block of Brownsville Avenue, said he heard on his scanner about a man “covered with blood” running down the street. He went outside just in time to see Benton collapse in the doorway of a vacant house across the street.

“One of the guys he was with almost got hit by a bus coming to ask me for help but I said I’d come over there,” he said. “I could tell by the shading of his eyes, he was dead. And when they opened his shirt and I saw the size of the bullet hole and where it was located, it was impossible.”

McKenith was among those who placed a stuffed animal at an impromptu memorial on the steps to the vacant house where Benton died.

“I just wish I could have done something,” he said.

Benton’s grandmother Diane Myers said the family is “trying to get through the best they can.”

“He was a sweet young man and he was trying to turn his life around,” she said. “But he never got the chance.”

Benton’s aunt, Nicole Alexander, said he was a good kid, and though he had problems “like all kids,” his were school-related.

“He always smiled,” she said. “He had troubles, but he was doing good.”

County homicide detectives are examining videotape from security cameras located at nearby businesses and have statements from neighbors and nearby shopkeepers, but as yet have no motive or suspects. County police Assistant Superintendent James Morton said solving the case will require witnesses to come forward and cooperate with the investigation.

“We don’t really have anything in terms of witnesses because he died in front of a vacant house, so there’s no pending arrest at this time,” Morton said. “But we’ll keep at it until we get it.”

Morton said county investigators are currently working on 30 homicide investigations. As of this writing, Benton was the 16th homicide victim under the age of 18 this year. Anyone with information on Benton’s death is urged to call county homicide detectives at 412-473-1300.

(Send comments to cmorrow@newpittsburghcourier.com.)